You’ve included a few tracks from the Royal Albert Hall performance. Had there been plans to release either the Radio City Music Hall show or Royal Albert Hall show in its entirety?

“Yes, there were plans. The problem with Radio City was there was a malfunction. Let’s say there was a human error whereby the show wasn’t recorded. Which is a shame. That was a great show. We recorded Albert Hall which wasn’t, for us, technically as good a show. There were some problems. You know, there are always some problems on stage that people don’t notice, but they do cause more hassles than people realize. It wasn’t quite as great for us, even though the occasion was wonderful. So, we had to sift through that a little bit.

When we were thinking about possibly releasing it, we found out that Royal Albert Hall charges a huge amount of money to use anything recorded there. It really was prohibitive. We’re talking tens and tens and tens of thousands of Pounds. So, in the end, going back and forth with them again and again, we worked out a deal where we could use some tracks. We thought it would be nice to include some of the older material that we played at Royal Albert Hall onto the second disc of Octane Twisted” – Richard Barbieri

What are your memories of those two shows?

“We did an acoustic set, which was very enjoyable. It was an amazing way to start the show, especially at Radio City with all its curtains and the depth of the stage, you could do all these reveals. So when the people got into the auditorium, all they see if this minimal little jazz setup at the front. They must have been wondering what the hell is going on and whether there was a support band. So we come out and do a little set. After that, the next curtains open and there’s all our gear and we go into the first part of our set. And then again, the next curtain opens up and we’ve got the biggest LED screen in the world, I think. So, suddenly, we’re all in this film going on. It was a magical moment.

That was a very special show, that and the Albert Hall were incredible. They’re venues you know about all your life. Famous and so much history attached to them. Finally, to get Porcupine Tree on stage with a production we all wanted to project” – Richard Barbieri